Margot and her team played in a challenging tournament this weekend against higher ranked teams than they normally play. They did awesome. Lost every game, but played super well and held several games to much tighter games than expected.
Hazel had her first game with the school soccer team. She played super well, especially considering it’s been 4+ months since she played a game.
A good chunk of the island of Rarotonga is surrounded by a shallow lagoon, protected from waves by the reef. This makes for some great snorkeling, with much of it easily accessible from the beach. Just from the beach we saw tons of colorful reef
Aitutaki is a tiny island with a huge lagoon. There are a handful of small resorts, but the island is probably one of the least developed places we’ve been. For dinner, there are just a few places to eat (we did find one we loved),
We booked two full day private boat tours with T’s Tours Aitutaki. It was a bit of a splurge, but felt so worth it. We had an awesome time doing several extended snorkels, so time exploring the motus and islands. An absolute treat.
Although we spent much of our time on this trip in the water, we also enjoyed some great meals, an awesome fire show, fun markets, and just exploring.
I had hoped to do a couple days of diving on Rarotonga and on Aitutaki, but for various reasons we only ended up doing one. Was a super fun day, with Hazel and I doing two dives in the morning, and then Kim joining us
We took the girls for the long promised and long overdue ear piercing, and then for some nice indian food after.
Girls had a day off for Cesar Chavez, so we headed to Big Bear for a day trip. Had the pleasure of having one of hazels good friends come with us. Conditions were pretty meh, but we had a great time regardless. With zero lift
Hazel had a poetry assignment for school. They had to create a book with a certain number of different styles of poems, including haikus, cinquain, diamante, ballads, ode, and elegy.
#9 and #10/52 new recipes for 2025 i make tacos pretty frequently, but these were significantly different recipes. Both were delicious. #9/52 Mango Jalapeno Carnitas #10/52 Orange marinade smoked tritip. the tri tip was not quite as tender as I would have liked, but still
We did Tuesday tacos, and Margot was playing with my phone while we waited. She said she was trying to look mysterious.
If anyone eats gluten free or cooks for someone that does, highly recommend two things: 1) Get yourself the pictured cookbook. The recipes aren’t simple, they involve a lot of mixing your own flour blends, but they have all been fantastic. 2) Get yourself a
Hazel’s big request for our trip this year was to revisit the Little Colorado, and her big wish was that we’d get the amazing blue colors. Lucky enough, there was no recent rain and we had a fun time swimming and exploring.
Lava Falls is one of the higher rated rapids on the Grand Canyon, and a clean line is normally celebrated. Hazel was nervous and rode with my friend Geno (who has an anti-flip device on his raft). But Kim and Margot braved it with me
A very fun couple days hanging out with and paddling the SF American with good friends. It was their first time paddle rafting!
We had some friends join us this year, which was super fun. Jr Guides Raft Camp is an incredible 3 day rafting experience for the kids. Although their is always an experienced instructor/guide in the raft, they truly put the kids in the drivers seat
In June 2024 I was able to help put together a trip for a 19 day journey down the Grand Canyon. It was my third time down, Hazel’s second, and the first for Kim and Margot. We had some excitement when I put the whole
Diana’s Throne is a fun slot canyon near Zion that requires some technical rope work. We had done it before, and I had read that there was little water, so I decided to take our friends down. With 8 people and me lowering everyone, it
I love Open Streets events, where roads are closed to cars, allowing people to come together and explore and enjoy parts of town without worrying about cars. We’ve ridden in and enjoyed many.
When I heard about the April 8, 2024 Eclipse, I knew we wanted to go. I’d never seen a total eclipse. The fact that it would go nearly straight over my brother’s place in Texas made it an even easier decision. When I checked the
We had a couple of great days skiing Copper Mountain and Arapaho Basin during our Spring break road trip to see the eclipse. These were some of the areas I grew up skiing, so I loved revisiting them and sharing them with Kim and the
This was a literal bucket list item for me, to swim with whale sharks. I’ve been thinking about it for decades. It was incredible. Hard to capture the size of these sharks. These are juvenile, but whale sharks are the largest fish around. These were
An absolutely amazing trip. In early December I made the long drive to Cabo San Lucas, stopping just for gas, food, and sleep. Left the van at a storage place and flew home. After going to Texas for Christmas, we flew from there back to
After a great trip to Moorea a few years ago, we decided to head back and visit some of the other islands in the chain. IT was wonderful and included Hazel’s first scuba dives after certification, and Margot really getting into snorkeling. It’s always hard
Super nice weekend at Catalina Island. Feel lucky to live where we do. Be sure to check out the videos from the Zipline and from Hazel’s SCUBA certification
Congratulations to Hazel. She finished her PADI Open Water SCUBA course today and is now a certified diver. Millions of thanks to Michael Francisco for his skilled, patient and kind instruction. If anyone in SoCal wants to learn to dive, I can say he is
We all went to Catalina so that Hazel could get her scuba certification. Margot and Kim went to the Zipline, and I handed Margot my GoPro and asked her to film. She did an amazing job and produced just about the cutest video you can
Hazel had an assignment to write a “narrative story” for school. The teacher told her to focus more on making the story exciting than worrying about accuracy, so some of the details are off a bit. But I liked the story. By Hazel: My Narrative
